The Time Ring

Mousy was trying to find something to do. Her heart was beating rapidly and her palms were sweating. She already wiped her palms on her jeans a few times. Her senses were going crazy. She knew it was bad to get attached. He was going to leave soon. Besides that, she couldn’t let him become her weak point. She didn’t need a weakness. She survived for so long because she didn’t get
attached to anyone.

“Are you alright?” She jumped in fear when she felt someone place his hand on her shoulder. She turned quickly and faced Matthew. He was the unpredictable guest. She seriously didn’t need another person to lie to.

“I’m just tired. I worked a lot” Matt nodded and retracted his arm when he saw her glancing at it.

“Do you need any help?” She moved further away from him. She did that subtly but he noticed. It didn’t feel nice at all. He wasn’t a stranger. Moreover, he was someone whom she cared about and vice versa. He still cared about her.

“I don’t. But tomorrow you can help Jeremy with the decorations. The living room is wider than it looks” He felt a tinge of anger. She was trying to be a lady and talk to him even though her answers were cold.

“I didn’t know you got yourself a boyfriend” He stopped and blinked.

“Uh, yes. We’ve been together for s short while, though” Matt raised an eyebrow. His curiosity was growing.

“He looks older than you. Where did you meet?” She sighed.

“In London, close to my school. He was there, killing time” That was partially true. He wasn’t doing anything when they met. He just landed. Now, she couldn’t tell him that. “We talked and engaged into some common actions” Matt stared at her with a judging glint in his eyes. She knew that her words came out wrong. She didn’t mean anything perverted. But if Matt believed that, it didn’t really matter.

“Some common actions” She nodded innocently. Matt sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Are you sure he is not a scammer? He might as well use you for your money”

“Like you?” Matt’s eyes widened. Mousy sighed and walked past him towards the door. “You liked me, I believe that. But you started to like my money more” She glanced at him over her shoulder and smiled. “He can use me all he wants because I’m going to use him as well” She left her former boyfriend in a confusing state.

While she was walking up the stairs, she rubbed her forehead and sighed. It was so troublesome. She had to deal with three bastards instead of two.

“This will be so tiring” She wasn’t careful what was going on around her. She collided into some firm chest and lost her balance. Thankfully, someone caught her arm before she would fall. “Thanks?” Her gratitude was a little confusing. The one who helped her was the same weirdly tall man.

“No problem, miss. We wouldn’t want you dead, would we?” He bowed and walked downstairs. She watched him until he got out of her sight. That was even more confusing. His response sounded like a threat more than something nice.

“Have you seen the tall guy?” The Doctor was already in the room when she entered. He was lazily laying in bed, playing with something he found.

“The tall guy?” She nodded. “You mean the butler?” She nodded, again. “Yes. He seems very gentleman-ish”

“Exactly. He looks so neat and dark”

“Isn’t that how a butler should look? The standard is the same everywhere” She bit the inside of her cheek and sat near his feet.

“But isn’t that weird? We didn’t have a butler a few months ago” The Doctor raised an eyes in a teasing manner.

“You?” She realized what she said and gulped.

“I mean my aunt” The Doctor started to laugh loudly and threw the toy he was playing with to her. She caught it easily. The toy he was playing with was actually a pocket knife. She threw it on the bed when she figured what it was. “Where the heck did you find this?” He shrugged.

“Around your aunt’s room” She stared at him blankly. “I was just looking around. I left the room in perfect condition. Nothing blew up or get on fire” She continued to stare at him in the same way.
“Yet”

“Doctor!” He shrugged her off easily. He had more important matters.

“I think we should concentrate more on the mold” Mousy’s attention shifted easily. He didn’t have a good attention span. She forgot about her aunt’s room rather quickly. “The hall has a different smell than the rest of the house. I found some alien mold behind a painting but if we’d go look right now, there’s none”

“I think we should go to sleep, now. You need to relax and prepare for tomorrow. You will help Jeremy with the decorations” She didn’t wait for his response. She hurried into the bathroom to change into her pajamas.

The night only begun when the Doctor started to move around in the bed. They were already used to sleep in one bed but he was taking the shifting to an annoying level.

“Can you stop and just sleep, please?” He wasn’t letting her relax at all.

“I’m trying. Why don’t you turn your back to me if you don’t like it?” She did that. Unfortunately, he didn’t stop. The bed was huge so there was really no problem about space.

“You’re annoying” He didn’t respond. “Are you going to ignore my complaints, like always?” He still didn’t respond. Suddenly, he stopped. She became curious and looked at him. Her eyes widened when she saw him under the blanket. She closed her eyes and prepared herself mentally before she ventured under the blanket, as well. He was illuminating the place with his screwdriver.

“What did you find?” He pointed at the sheets. “They’re clean. There’s nothing weird” He leaned closer to the sheets and smelled them. It was a weird sight.

“Smell it” His encouragement made her stomach grumble. However, she did make an effort. Surprisingly, it smelled familiar. “It smells rotten right?” She nodded. The Doctor hummed and started to pat the bed. She uncovered them and watched him with a blank face. Somehow, it didn’t look as weird as she thought. He was definitely in his element.

In the end, the Doctor got off the bed and started to point his nose around the room. He must have found a trail because he walked out of the room. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She wasn’t going to sleep that night.

“Where are we going?” The Doctor didn’t respond. He didn’t really know, yet. He was only following the smell. It got them in the hall, in front of the same painting.

“This room is your aunt’s right?” Mousy nodded. “But it’s clean. I already checked it” He started to turn in circles and think. “If the source is not in the room then it may come from some other part of the house. The walls are thin and freshly restored” He stopped. “Wait, freshly restored. Of course, that’s it! Why didn’t I think of that before?”

“I’m sure you have a great discussion with your inner self but I’d like to know too” He grabbed her arm and walked along the corridor. He stopped in front of the stairs.

“The first floor has been restored recently, right?” She nodded. “What about the second?” She blinked. “Exactly. You don’t know because you never went there. You don’t know how it looks”

“Well, yes. My aunt doesn’t really use the second floor. She uses it to store different items” Her eyes widened when she realized what she said. “It comes from the second floor! My God, there are aliens hiding, aren’t there?” Alright, maybe she started to exaggerate.

“Maybe not, maybe yes. I wouldn’t go that far yet” She became very excited. He could see that much. She grabbed his arm and dragged him in front of an old pair of stairs.

“Let’s investigate” He was somehow happy that she decided to stop complaining and do something but she was going head first into unknown. That kind of reminded him of someone.